SohryuusWager
Sohryuu's Wager, the story It is said that, in the days before the encounter with the Allmind, there was a young Zenith, by the name of Sohryuu. Now, Sohryuu was a fine crafter, for his age, and especially good with the crafting of arms and armor for his fellow Exalted. This conviction led him to an intemperate boast one night, at a lovely formal affair where he had, perhaps, drunk a little too much wine, mentioning a certain twilight of his acquaintance: "Bah, whatever, I'm the crafter in my circle, better than whatsername... Seta, that's it. Much better 'n her. Any dayotha week." Seta, the tower-keeper, overheard this, and started to quarrel with the Zenith, both giving reasons on the spot why they were the better genius, Seta not just because of the manner of her Exaltation, but because of her advances in the field of Wyld shaping and protection, Sohryuu Regulator-Friend because of his improvements to original Alchemical designs to create new arms and armor for the Solars. The Captain, Sol see his spirit on, overheard this quarrel along with half the party, but he stepped in, being relative strangers to them both- the entire collective of Solars being fairly small, after all- and put hand between them. They both looked at him. "Well," he said, "Then this calls for a wager, does it not? I will put up a talent of Orichalcum and any one exotic component you need for another artifact, for the matter of this wager to be put to rest." "Oh, and what would the terms be?" Seta asked, hoping (falsely) that Sohryuu would be too drunk to remember his boast and this wager tomorrow. "Hm? A simple contest of design," the Dawn Captain replied, and explained his needs. "I use a daiklaive in cases where Autochthonia has been boarded; but I'm finding it a little unwieldy in the narrowest corridors, even for one such as me- at least, not without causing collateral damage that might endanger more lives. So, I look for a replacement, a weapon sturdy enough that I won't break the tip, small enough that I won't brush the walls or ceiling of the narrowest corridors a man can walk in in Autochthonia, and can be called or recalled into a small space at a moments' notice. Child's play, for you, of course, but there are two caveats: The less material, the better, and it must be forged of Orichalcum. I will accept no substitutes." "What of our material costs?" Sohryuu said, suddenly. Dawn Captain pondered this. "The loser shall pay the winner," he said, after a long moment. Seta and Sohryuu looked at each other, then back to the Captain. "We accept," they said at once, and each went into their separate labs, there to work upon an artifact to meet the captain's needs. Seta, for his part, knew well what the captain would like- it was almost certain he was after a Wavecleaver Daiklave, a simple enough construction. In fact, while he did not have such a thing on hand- such would be cheating besides!- he had the exotic components easily to hand for such an endeavor. Taking a sample from the Pole of Vacuum itself, and using Shaping on the bones of a great mortal hero of the Solar Navy, wrapped about in orichalcum a meter long, the daiklave Seta named Seta's Wager was placed before the Dawn Captain in one month. He deemed it acceptable, but honor bound him to wait for Sohryuu's response, which he had been told would take longer, and after all, time had not been of the Essence to the wager. It took Sohryuu the better part of a year to find all the components he would need, though the initial planning took him but a week; first, a core of refined Orichalcum, congealed as a single crystal, refined in the fires of the Daystar itself, second, an eye to the infinite possibility of the wyld, forged of its Essence, third, the personal blessing of an Autochthonian machine god of high authority- itself no easy task!- and fourth, which he begged the captain for when he had all the other materials together, a drop of the Dawn Captain's very blood. Intrigued, the Captain came to the Regulator-Friend's lab, to see a small, slim crystal, bound about with blessings and possibility, glowing golden and barely contained by the table it was sitting on. "Yours is the last thing needed," Sohryuu explained, "To temper it, and give it life." Dawn Captain nodded, and cut open a single finger, letting it drip, making the glow have a tinge of orange and sunrise like it had been in Creation, which also becalmed it. A week later, what came to the Captain's desk was a hilt, no more than a handspan long; his hands grasped it, looking it over. He had seen beamklaives before, of course- such things were the weapons of the Alchemical Exalted- but he also knew how occasionally destructive they were. He took it in his hand, and a few moments later, it leapt into life, only a meter long, no curve, and glowing like his very anima, the colors of the Dawn. It was light, nimble, an elegant weapon indeed. "I will make my decision shortly, and message you both." It was true, he later said, that both had met his needs, but he had discovered the ancillary effect to Sohryuu's wager- its length could be changed, at will, anywhere from one hundred twenty centimeters, to thirty, and still retain its coherence, making it ideal for either attack or defense, and of course, he need never fear that it would become unwieldy in his hands. Further, he had used less Orichalcum, and less material overall, having reviewed Sohryuu's plans. And so it was, and the Captain bore Sohryuu's Wager ''at his side for all the rest of his days, and with it, he became an icon of what it means to be fighting a boarding action, his weapon of shining gold and his Armor of the Dawn clad about him, defeating Yozi cults, beating back the Wyld, a paragon of virtue and strength... But these are other tales. Sohryuu's Wager, the Orichalcum Wavecleaver Daiklave ''Sohryuu's Wager is a four dot artifact, an orichalcum wavecleaver daiklave, that has the following abilities: Category:Exalted